Bronze rifle barrel or components?

The good news, is that you can use the well known properties of 4130 / 4140 and 416 SS as your baseline, and compare the properties of "alloy xxx" to it.

It is common in metal alloys that when they improved one area (for example tensile strength) it might decrease fracture toughness or something else. This is the whole trick with base metals and alloys - it is all a balancing act.

A good example is steel barrels vs 416 SS barrels. The stainless barrels are dramatically more corrosion resistant, but the tensile strength is significantly less, as is thermal conductivity.

The more complex comparison is not just what happens at room temperature, but also over the expected use temperature. Some steel alloys become quite brittle under arctic conditions, while many aluminum alloys are used down into liquid N2 temperature ranges.

I wouldn't be at all afraid of building up a .22 LR setup with bronze, but moving up from there, it might be helpful to use a pressure trace or similar so you can monitor how much things are deforming (or not).
 
I forgot to mention as well that if you forge the alloys vs. just machine them, the properties are also considerably different.
 
well I suppose that one could cut a barrel out of Ampco 18 or 22, but that would be a learning curve that few would ever get past. Then you'd have to learn to get past the harmonics that come with lots of chrome and the ability to work harden like nothing else we've ever seen.
gary
 
You would probably be better off investing time turning out high BC bullets from ampco and sticking with the high quality barrels that already being made.

Ive wanted to try ampco and BeCu bullets for a while but never got around to it. I definitely dont wanna go off pounding them through my match barrel.
 
Bear,

I doubt if even the hardest bronze can give the Rockwell hardness rating of normal barrel steel used in most rifles. Even the best bronze barrels would wear far too fast.
 
Bear,

I doubt if even the hardest bronze can give the Rockwell hardness rating of normal barrel steel used in most rifles. Even the best bronze barrels would wear far too fast.
How could that be, when bronze is famously used in bushings and bearings, high wear applications?
 

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